I've met a certain class of people on Newsgroups and e-lists who all seem
to have the same "symptoms." I am led to suspect that their type of
behavior might be a form of mental illness. To discuss this, first I must
define it. My list of diagnostic criteria for FPD, the FLAMER
PERSONALITY DISORDER is below. (grin) Know anyone like this? It's a
composite description of two real-world people I know, plus three of the
worst internet trolls I've encountered, plus the "flamer" side of my own
personality (yes, we all have one.)

WARNING: As a psychologist, the author of this page would make a good
electrical engineer! This webpage is half-joking. But only half. I
have no experience in psychology except as a customer of marriage
councilors and as the subject of too much self-examination. On the other
hand, I was much more of an idiot myself in my younger days, and it's
easy to list the following symptoms when you can see every one of them
from inside.
(The term "flamer" is short for "flaming a**hole," also called "troll" or
"being a dick.") On Youtube they're called "Haters." More about me if you must know.

10. Hypocrits: we're totally enmeshed in a self-serving bias: "when
I do something offensive, it's really a pure and justified deed, but when
you do exactly the same thing, it's a shameful and disgusting PLOY."
--&gt

11. Self-important: we have a very low opinion of others, and an
exalted (if dishonest) opinion of ourselves...
--&gt

12. Denying/projecting: We never attempt to see reality honestly,
but must constantly manipulate it by erasing some parts and distorting
others. --&gt

Misery of Social Life #15, "To be obliged frequently to meet in
company a man who opposes every remark for the purpose of starting an
argument, in which he is always more vociferous than convincing." from
The Miseries of Human Life
by J. Beresford, 1806

"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from
him." - Galileo

FLAMEWARS: SYNERGISTIC COMBINATIONS OF THE ABOVE:

Invariably a
FPD flamer will start a flamewar. First the flamer attacks another
subscriber
unexpectedly. It happens because the flamer felt insulted (exquisite
sensitivity to insults), but usually this insult was entirely in his/her
own mind. But the flamer never considers that perhaps he made a
mistake while interpreting the insult (no self-doubt), and he also sees a
NEED to answer every insult with insults (vengeful, narcissistic.)

Having created a fight while blaming others for starting it, the flamer
then lays into his victim, (amoral, combative), while seeing his own
actions as a righteous battle against an evil enemy (projection.) If
the victim seems hurt, the flamer will be disgusted by such weakness
(amoral.) But if the victim responds in kind, the flamer will immediately
complain bitterly about this, while steadfastly denying that the type of
attacks he so hates are identical to the ones he's using himself
(hypocrisy, self-serving bias.) If other subscribers object, the flamer
ignores them as beneath contempt (egotistical), or because he KNOWS
they must be wrong without even listening to their reasoning (no
self-doubt.) Or perhaps he ignores them because he is certain that they
have hidden agendas, and their complaints could only be false constructs
meant to mislead. (denial/projection.)

The FPD flamer typically ignores a moderator and refuses to alter his
behavior, and can only be stopped by ejection from the forum. Sometimes
flamers attack the moderator in order to get ejected (and therefore feel
smug righteousness at being "censored" or "martyred.") A flamer will
occasionally be shocked by being banned from a forum, and actually
reconsider his behavior. But this is rare. Usually they're too far
gone for this to penetrate
their immense psychological defenses. They will refuse all responsibility
for the
problem (deceit, denial), blame it on the moderator or on the group for
conspiring against them in private (paranoia), and totally refuse to look
at their own mistakes in an honest light (denial, deceit, self-blind.)

Heh. Don't you just LOVE encountering a full-blown FPD-type flamer?

"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil
deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and
destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart
of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own
heart." -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

"Put an end once and for all to this discussion of what a good person
should be, and be one." - Marcus Aurelius

Nobody is worthless: they can always serve as a bad example! If
you hate flamers, don't attack them. Instead, try to stay painfully aware
of the "flamer side" of your own personality, and don't ever act that way.
If you think you HAVE no Flamer within yourself, then you'd better be
Ghandi, because if you're not, then you've got a very serious case of
self-blindness. You might be 100% flamer without knowing it! Does this
scare you? It should. It's no joke.

Below is some REAL info. A note about the following. A personality
disorder must "lead to distress or impairment", but many flamers seem well
adapted to modern life. Instead it is EVERYONE AROUND THEM who becomes
distressed or impaired. They're like a happy and well-adjusted tumor
exuding
poison that kills the body. Another note: much of the above I lifted from
Peck's People
of the Lie In other words, the flamer is the "online
persona" of one of Dr. Peck's examples of human evil.
Some flamers might not be evil so much as sick; suffering from
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

And most important: have some compassion. Mental illness is a true
illness, so don't take these attacks so personally. In some cases,
Personality Disorders are created by extremely cruel childhood mental
abuse which victims received from parents who themselves had a disorder.
Emotional child abuse leaves no physical trace, so it probably occurs far
more often than anyone realizes. Don't fight with the sick person, but
also think twice about welcoming them into your home (or your forum.)

Personality Disorders: general

The definition of "personality disorder" from the APA's DSM-IV manual:
"an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly
from the expectation of the individual's culture, is pervasive and
inflexible, has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over
time, and leads to distress or impairment."

Self-centeredness that manifests itself through a me-first,
self-preoccupied attitude .

Lack of individual accountability that results in a victim mentality
and blaming others, society and the universe for their problems

Lack of perspective-taking and empathy

Manipulative and exploitative behavior

Unhappiness, suffering from depression and other mood and anxiety
disorders

Vulnerability to other mental disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive
tendencies and panic attacks

Distorted or superficial understanding of self and others'
perceptions, being unable to see his or her objectionable, unacceptable,
disagreeable, or self-destructive behaviors or the issues that may have
contributed to the personality disorder

Socially maladaptive, changing the rules of the game, introducing new
variables, or otherwise influencing the external world to conform to their
own needs

No hallucinations, delusions or thought disorders (except for the
brief psychotic episodes of Borderline Personality Disorder)

"To do evil, a human being must first of all believe that what he is
doing is good"
- Alexander I. Solzhenitsyn